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Russia: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has announced that it will consider additional investment and increased shares in the French building materials company Saint Gobain at its next board of directors meeting on 18 December 2012.

In a recent press release the EBRD stated that it will consider increasing its investment in the share capital structure in the Russian market leader leader to Euro24.3m and increase the current share of the bank in the Russian company to a maximum of 33%. The EBRD currently owns 11.19% Saint-Gobain Construction Products RUS.

Investment Bank will finance the majority of the planned investment programme of Saint Gobain Construction Products RUS, which will be implemented from 2013 to 2017. For the investment programme of the Russian units Saint Gobain will need Euro340m in this period.

The investment programme includes the development of a gypsum plasterboard plant in Nizhny Novgorod, as well as the construction and upgrade of existing plants. The project includes investments in companies in various regions and cities of Russia, such as Nizhny Novgorod, Arzamas, Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk.

US: National Gypsum and Recycled Energy Development (RED) has announced the opening of a combined heat and power (CHP) project at National Gypsum's Burlington, New Jersey, facility. The project produces approximately 3.4MW of electricity and delivers more than 30MMBtu/hr of thermal energy, resulting in an overall efficiency of greater than 90%.

"CHP is benefitting our company's bottom line," said John Corsi, vice president of Manufacturing Operations and Engineering at National Gypsum. "This facility allows National Gypsum to further strengthen our competitiveness, increase our reliability, as well as improve our environmental stewardship."

RED's cogeneration system provides power and thermal energy to National Gypsum's wallboard production facility, reducing its costs, energy-intensity, and greenhouse-gas emissions. The system captures excess heat from the gas turbine's combustion and uses it within the board dryer to dry wallboard.

The project benefitted from a US$1.3m competitive grant administered by New Jersey's Economic Development Authority and Board of Public Utilities.

Russia: Mordovcement has announced that its Euro87m gypsum plant, in the federal region of Mordovia, will be operational by the end of 2012. Doing business as LLC Magma, the Russian cement producer's new plant has four production lines. Its gypsum wallboard line has a capacity of 30Mm2/yr. Its gypsum partition block line has a capacity of 560,000m2/yr. Its gypsum construction block line has a capacity of 100,000t/yr. Its fourth line produces gypsum binder for dry construction mixes at a capacity of 90,000t/yr.

Germany/Brazil/Mexico: Wacker Chemie AG, the Munich-based gypsum additive producer, is extending its existing technical centre in São Paulo, Brazil, and creating a new technical centre in Mexico City, Mexico. The company will also expand its training centre in São Paulo and open a new one in Mexico City. Both projects have a combined investment of Euro1.2m and are scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2013.

"Central and South America are key future markets for Wacker. Our sales in these regions have grown by an annual average of 15% over the past five years," said president and CEO Dr Rudolf Staudigl.

US: Eagle Materials has reported a rise in revenue of 22% to US$165m for the quarter that ended on 30 September 2012. Previously the company reported $135m for the same period in 2011. Eagle also reported a rise in net earnings of 66% to US$18m in the second quarter of 2012 from US$6.03m in 2011.

The North American building materials producer's Gypsum Wallboard business benefited in the quarter from higher wallboard average net sales prices and higher gypsum wallboard sales volumes. Revenue for the Gypsum Wallboard business increased by 34% to US$77.3m from US$51m. Operating earnings increased to US$16.5m from a loss of US$2.54m in the same quarter in 2011. Wallboard sales volumes increased by 24% to 500MMSF from 403MMSF.

In September 2012 Eagle entered into a definitive agreement with Lafarge North America to purchase Lafarge's Sugar Creek, Missouri and Tulsa, Oklahoma cement plants, as well as related assets, for its cement business. The purchase price was US$446m. The acquisition is expected to close by December 2012.